Art, I coudn't agree more. I *hated* writing what I did. But Angel hasn't just written or published one or two articles, he's made KABA "dirty underwear HQ", and that's what I finally couldn't tolerate having my name attached to.
Don't believe me? Y'all can see for yourselves:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/nra
36 articles under this "NRA gripes" section. Take a good look. I've been called a liar for saying that Angel has complained about a large number of different NRA policies, and labeled them "treason". It's NOT a lie. One of Angel's favorite techniques is to complain about one particular policy, and then mention in passing a whole slew of other policies as a way of "proving" that it's one big conspiracy against our rights.
The problem is, even when he may have the occational legit gripe such as the somewhat ugly CARA thing, he does this "look at what else they do" number and the "what else" is mostly just garbage.
Here's the CARA article:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=2403
CARA was pretty ugly, and probably deserved some critique. But Angel in classic style called it part of a "pattern" of "abuse". To quote Angel:
>>But the NRA has supported and in some cases actively promoted all of the following and more:
1) background checks (NRA's NICS system, which the NRA is all too aware has been used to abuse citizens' rights)
2) "gun free school zones" that make it easier for someone to harm our defenseless children and their teachers
3) "zero tolerance enforcement" of thousands of laws that infringe on the second amendment rights of NRA's members and the other 79,000,000 gun owners
4) "A" grades for known gun grabbers, paving the way for gun enemies to have their way with our rights
et cetera.<<
Sorry Angel, but NICS was a desperate attempt to stop something even worse (permanent Fed waiting periods WITH background checks), the school zone thing has too much "sheeple support" to fight right now (blame the media, not the NRA), and Exile was sadly necessary to block new Fed gun control during the dark years of the Clinton administration. Only the fourth complaint has any merit at all, and while some mistakes were made, it was done to allow pro-gun GOP leadership to stack committee seats in legislatures...so a grabber GOP legicritter is sometime more valuable than a Dem who's slightly better. So there was temptation to rig the ratings...it wasn't right, and they're doing much better.
In other words, Angel wasn't content with just complaining about one issue, he tried to paint a "larger pattern" but he did so with a failed brush, confusing pragmatism and political necessity with treason.
--------------------------------
Quoting Skypod:
"Jim... I already said you can't use the fact that it was on KABA as an excuse. YOU wrote the material, you could have sent it in to MC without KABA on it."
You don't get it yet. Some of these were co-produced with Angel. I had to *credit* him. I still am, in fact, check out:
http://www.ninehundred.com/~equalccw/marin.pdf (Adobe Acrobat required, download the free reader if necessary at www.adobe.com)
Note that it's now moved entirely to my site, but the credits at the top of the page still include Angel. He did work, he gets credit, regardless of anything else and Mike Haas and company aren't complaining. (I'd ignore 'em if they did, but I'm confident they won't.)
Basically, my stuff and Angel's were so "intertwined", it took a massive break to disentangle. Bad situation, but it wasn't of my making.
-----------------------
OK, I said "36" items up there, but I went and checked and Angel had done another since this whole controvery broke:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3409
This is actually an improvement over many past pieces Angel has done or been involved with. Gone is any sort of "over-arching conspiracy" language straight out of tinfoil-hat-land.
The complaint itself is sort of accurate, sorta not. The NRA is trying not to foster panic at the idea of "all gun control is about to be killed off in one fell swoop". So Trish ended with the idea that particular gun control laws should be looked at one at a time, not a terrible concept and one that fits with the "appear moderate" gameplan that put Bush in office (a case of "stick with what works").
In my view, Trish should have gone further with the idea that SOME gun control laws are truly obnoxious even by the standards of the average sheeple voter. Once we get the idea across that SOME weapons control just flat-out sucks, voters become more open to seeing that most if not all of it stinks. It's a matter of "getting a foot in the mental doorway".
How?
Allow me to engage in a bit of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, something Angel isn't real good at.
The NRA's main website should contain a "Least Wanted List" of the 10 worst gun control laws in the nation. Structured like the FBI's top-ten most wanted list, and basically parodying it. Laws described should be picked not for how us gunnies view them, but instead picked because they can be villified in terms that ordinary folks can understand and empathize with.
Heavy on the satire.
Examples of some possible entries:
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
California's Gun Carry Permit System (Penal Codes 12050-12054)
Known problems: causes racism, corruption, bias and elitism in local police and Sheriff's agencies in the issuance of gun carry permits.
Verified as having been crafted in 1923 for distinctly racist purposes. Similar laws all over the South have already been exterminated, many were lobbied for by the KKK.
See these links for details.
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
California Penal Code 12020's ban on the carry or ownership of "any shobi-zue".
Known problems: We don't know what a "shobi-zue" is. No California law enforcement officer or DA staff member we have contacted has any clue either. We checked with a professor of Japanese antiquities, he just looked at us funny. We do not know of any busts under this part of the statute. We do not know how you'd AVOID having a "shobi-zue".
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
Ohio's law (get code cite) banning all carry of defensive firearms unless one can prove necessity AFTER the fact.
Known problems: this law is already on "death row" after having been declared unconstitutional by an Ohio state court judge and then three judges on a state appellate panel. It is up for final review by the Ohio Supreme Court. This law is virtually identical to the ban on self defense exterminated by Governor George Bush of Texas in 1996, replaced with a handgun carry license system that has reduced crime and increased personal freedom with no violent downside. Ohio's statute should mercifully meet the same fate either at the hands of the court, or legislation.
--------------------------------
Y'all get the idea. Pick laws that can be lampooned. Find at least one that is horribly unclear, and leave honest citizens uncertain as to whether or not they're breaking the law. California's insanely complex "switchblade law" is perhaps a good example, it leaves us unable to figure out what's an ordinary pocket knife without paid legal advice.
Picking the "10 worst" shouldn't be hard.
Do up a copy for print, in the American Rifleman or something, and we can get popular support for examples of what sorts of utter garbage might meet a timely end under widespread support for the individual rights position that Ashcroft is now behind.
Don't believe me? Y'all can see for yourselves:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/nra
36 articles under this "NRA gripes" section. Take a good look. I've been called a liar for saying that Angel has complained about a large number of different NRA policies, and labeled them "treason". It's NOT a lie. One of Angel's favorite techniques is to complain about one particular policy, and then mention in passing a whole slew of other policies as a way of "proving" that it's one big conspiracy against our rights.
The problem is, even when he may have the occational legit gripe such as the somewhat ugly CARA thing, he does this "look at what else they do" number and the "what else" is mostly just garbage.
Here's the CARA article:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=2403
CARA was pretty ugly, and probably deserved some critique. But Angel in classic style called it part of a "pattern" of "abuse". To quote Angel:
>>But the NRA has supported and in some cases actively promoted all of the following and more:
1) background checks (NRA's NICS system, which the NRA is all too aware has been used to abuse citizens' rights)
2) "gun free school zones" that make it easier for someone to harm our defenseless children and their teachers
3) "zero tolerance enforcement" of thousands of laws that infringe on the second amendment rights of NRA's members and the other 79,000,000 gun owners
4) "A" grades for known gun grabbers, paving the way for gun enemies to have their way with our rights
et cetera.<<
Sorry Angel, but NICS was a desperate attempt to stop something even worse (permanent Fed waiting periods WITH background checks), the school zone thing has too much "sheeple support" to fight right now (blame the media, not the NRA), and Exile was sadly necessary to block new Fed gun control during the dark years of the Clinton administration. Only the fourth complaint has any merit at all, and while some mistakes were made, it was done to allow pro-gun GOP leadership to stack committee seats in legislatures...so a grabber GOP legicritter is sometime more valuable than a Dem who's slightly better. So there was temptation to rig the ratings...it wasn't right, and they're doing much better.
In other words, Angel wasn't content with just complaining about one issue, he tried to paint a "larger pattern" but he did so with a failed brush, confusing pragmatism and political necessity with treason.
--------------------------------
Quoting Skypod:
"Jim... I already said you can't use the fact that it was on KABA as an excuse. YOU wrote the material, you could have sent it in to MC without KABA on it."
You don't get it yet. Some of these were co-produced with Angel. I had to *credit* him. I still am, in fact, check out:
http://www.ninehundred.com/~equalccw/marin.pdf (Adobe Acrobat required, download the free reader if necessary at www.adobe.com)
Note that it's now moved entirely to my site, but the credits at the top of the page still include Angel. He did work, he gets credit, regardless of anything else and Mike Haas and company aren't complaining. (I'd ignore 'em if they did, but I'm confident they won't.)
Basically, my stuff and Angel's were so "intertwined", it took a massive break to disentangle. Bad situation, but it wasn't of my making.
-----------------------
OK, I said "36" items up there, but I went and checked and Angel had done another since this whole controvery broke:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3409
This is actually an improvement over many past pieces Angel has done or been involved with. Gone is any sort of "over-arching conspiracy" language straight out of tinfoil-hat-land.
The complaint itself is sort of accurate, sorta not. The NRA is trying not to foster panic at the idea of "all gun control is about to be killed off in one fell swoop". So Trish ended with the idea that particular gun control laws should be looked at one at a time, not a terrible concept and one that fits with the "appear moderate" gameplan that put Bush in office (a case of "stick with what works").
In my view, Trish should have gone further with the idea that SOME gun control laws are truly obnoxious even by the standards of the average sheeple voter. Once we get the idea across that SOME weapons control just flat-out sucks, voters become more open to seeing that most if not all of it stinks. It's a matter of "getting a foot in the mental doorway".
How?
Allow me to engage in a bit of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, something Angel isn't real good at.
The NRA's main website should contain a "Least Wanted List" of the 10 worst gun control laws in the nation. Structured like the FBI's top-ten most wanted list, and basically parodying it. Laws described should be picked not for how us gunnies view them, but instead picked because they can be villified in terms that ordinary folks can understand and empathize with.
Heavy on the satire.
Examples of some possible entries:
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
California's Gun Carry Permit System (Penal Codes 12050-12054)
Known problems: causes racism, corruption, bias and elitism in local police and Sheriff's agencies in the issuance of gun carry permits.
Verified as having been crafted in 1923 for distinctly racist purposes. Similar laws all over the South have already been exterminated, many were lobbied for by the KKK.
See these links for details.
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
California Penal Code 12020's ban on the carry or ownership of "any shobi-zue".
Known problems: We don't know what a "shobi-zue" is. No California law enforcement officer or DA staff member we have contacted has any clue either. We checked with a professor of Japanese antiquities, he just looked at us funny. We do not know of any busts under this part of the statute. We do not know how you'd AVOID having a "shobi-zue".
--------------------------------
NOT WANTED:
Ohio's law (get code cite) banning all carry of defensive firearms unless one can prove necessity AFTER the fact.
Known problems: this law is already on "death row" after having been declared unconstitutional by an Ohio state court judge and then three judges on a state appellate panel. It is up for final review by the Ohio Supreme Court. This law is virtually identical to the ban on self defense exterminated by Governor George Bush of Texas in 1996, replaced with a handgun carry license system that has reduced crime and increased personal freedom with no violent downside. Ohio's statute should mercifully meet the same fate either at the hands of the court, or legislation.
--------------------------------
Y'all get the idea. Pick laws that can be lampooned. Find at least one that is horribly unclear, and leave honest citizens uncertain as to whether or not they're breaking the law. California's insanely complex "switchblade law" is perhaps a good example, it leaves us unable to figure out what's an ordinary pocket knife without paid legal advice.
Picking the "10 worst" shouldn't be hard.
Do up a copy for print, in the American Rifleman or something, and we can get popular support for examples of what sorts of utter garbage might meet a timely end under widespread support for the individual rights position that Ashcroft is now behind.
